Books: Seeking Robinson Crusoe

Seeking Robinson Crusoe

(Extract)

'We ate the booby later that same afternoon. We made a fire of driftwood and sat on sand of extraordinary fineness. It was as soft and yielding as the finest-milled white flour. Trondur skinned and disjointed the booby, and the morsels were skewered on twigs and propped over the embers. The pieces of booby took a very long time to cook, and the dark flesh did, as Dampier promised 'eat fishy'. Nor was there much substance to chew on. If boobies 'were eaten by the privateers', they must have needed at least one bird per man or gone hungry. When we tired of gnawing on the charred flesh we tossed the remnants to the dog the fishermen had left behind to guard their shacks. Initially the dog had done its duty and come to bark ferociously. Then, losing heart, it had crept closer and begged for scraps. When we left the beach and rowed back, the dog sat down on the crest of the dune and looked bereft. Then it lifted its muzzle and began to howl and howl. His wailing made Salt Tortuga seem an even more abandoned place.'

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